Cabinet construction



Oct. 11, 1966 F, x, LEVICKE 3,277,951

CABINET CONSTRUCTION Filed March 27, 1964 2 Sheets--SheeiI 1 ct. 11, 1966 F. x. LEVICKE CABINET CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 27, 1964 /w/ m 7 3J T 4 2 NL 2 f (2 2 Z; Z 2 7/ M MI/Mm fw k if? 2 4 2 m fvg/.

United States Patent() Ware Filed Mar. 27, 1964, Ser. No. 355,364 1 Claim. (Cl. 160-185) The present invention relates to cabinet construction and more particularly to a closure structure for cabinets designed especially, although not necessarily, for housing electronic equipment.

In a cabinet of this general variety, it is desirable to provide one of its walls with a folding door adapted to close the cabinet for protecting the housed equipment and to open the cabinet for giving access to the equipment. Because of the large and heavy structure of the type of cabinet referred to, folding doors of conventional construction are unsatisfactory, and it is a primary object of this invention to provide a folding door in which a plurality of door panels are associated in a novel and improved manner to insure adequate protection of the housed electronic equipment during operation and to facilitate access to the equipment for periodic inspection or needed repairs.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a folding door construction whereby the several panels can be mounted readily and inexpensively and assembled in operative position on the cabinet.

Another object of the invention is to provide a folding door which, while of rugged construction, is characterized by the unusual ease with which it can be moved manually to and from open and closed positions.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a cabinet of the mentioned variety with a folding door capable of affording unobstructed access to those equipment components which are located ywithin the cabinet, immediately adjacent the sidewalls thereof. For that purpose the door of the invention is such that it can be folded from either end toward the opposite end, thus fully opening the cabinet at that side from which the door is folded.

Other -characteristic features of the invention reside in the provision of a folding door structure wherein hinge means, stop means and resilient means are associated and cooperate in a novel manner to insure coplanar alignment of the plurality of interconnected door panels in cabinet closing position, to secure retention of the door panels in flush closed position without need of latches or other locking mechanisms, and to assist the manual handling of the door in effecting initial folding displacement of the panels out of coplanar relationship so that the door can subsequently be moved to fully open position with minimum effort.

To achieve these as well as other objectives and features, the invention employs novel hinge means in which hinges of two different types are arranged alternatively between pairs of adjacent door panels. In a preferred embodiment, the two types of hinges extend continuously along and are attached to vertical edge portions of the associated door panels. In particular accordance with the invention, each hinge of a first type has two pivots, one for each of the two panels associated Vwith that particular hinge, whereas each hinge of a second type has a single pivot common to the two panels associated with the particular hinge of said second type. The single pivot is disposed as to lie in a plane offset rearwardly with respect to the double pivots so that, when the door is fully extended to closed position, the hinges react with rigid stop means and Iwith spring loaded means to align and maintain the panels in closed position. This action is accomplished by constraining the rst type ICC hinges in the plane of the door opening while allowing the second type hinges to traverse a line of thrust brought about by the spring-loaded means and to assume an overcenter position determined by the rigid stop means.

The nature of the invention, as well as its objectives and advantages, will be more fully understood from the following description based on the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE l is a perspective elevational view of a cabinet construction provided with a door structure ernbodying th'e invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged View looking into the 4cabinet from the direction indicated by arrows 2-2 in FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional View taken substantially on line 3 3 of FIGURE 2 and drawn on a larger scale, the roller-and-track units being omitted for clarity of illustration; and

FIGURES 4, 5 and 6 are simplified views diagrammatically showing the folding d-oor in different opening positions.

With more particular reference to the drawings, there is shown in FIGURE l a cabinet 10 made of sheet metal. The cabinet is provided with an access opening 11 which is defined by upper horizontal frame portion 12, lower horizontal frame portion 13 and side vertical frame portions 14 and 15. A folding door structure, ydesignated generally at 16, is mounted within the access opening 11 to open and close the same. For that purpose the folding door structure, as seen in FIGURE 2, is suspended for and guided in its movement by means of roller-andtrack units which include a set of upper rollers 17 carried by the door structure to ride in a supporting top track 18 at the upper frame portion 12 of the cabinet, and a set of lower rollers 19 carried by the door structure to ride in a guiding bottom track Ztl at the lower frame portion 13 of the cabinet.

In the illustrated embodiment, the folding door structure comprises a series of six vertical rectangular panels of sheet metal, including two end panels 21 and 22 and four intermediate panels 23a, 23h, 23e and 23d. Certain panels, namely end panels 21 and 22 and intermediate panels 23a and 23d, are each provided with a handle 24 (FIGURE l) for manipulating the door to effect its opening and closing movements. It will of course be understood that the number of panels, and the number of handles and their location, may vary as desired or as required to suit the size of the cabinet access opening.

As shown in FIGURE 2, the panels are foldably interconnected by means of hinges of two different types, hinges 25 of the first type are disposed in alternate positions with respect to hinges 26, of the second type. Both types of hinges extend continuously for substantially the full height yof the associated panels and, as best seen in FIGURE 3, each rst type hinge 25 consists of two pairs of hinged leaves 27 and 28 and an elongated vertical strip 29 welded or otherwise rigidly affixed to the leaves 27, whereas each second type hinge 26 consists of a single pair of hinged leaves 30 and 31.

In accordance with the present invention, the hinges 25 and 26 are fixed to adjacent door panels at adjoining vertical edge portions 32. Thus, in the illustrated embodirnent which requires a set of five hinges, a first type hinge 25 is disposed between end panel 21 and immediately adjacent intermediate panel 23a, between end panel 22 and intermediately adjacent intermediate panel 23d, and between immediately adjacent intermediate panels 2311 and 23C, whereas a second type hinge 26 is disposed between the two adjacent intermediate panels 23a and 23h and between the two adjacent intermediate panels 23C and 23d.

As can be seen in FIGURE 2, supporting rollers 17 and guiding rollers 19 coincide with the rst type hinges 25 so that these hinges follow tracks 18 and 20, while the second type hinges 26 move outwardly with ope-ning of the door, as represented in FIGURES 4, and 6. Also as can be seen in FIGURE 2, additional supporting rollers 17a and guiding rollers 19a are attached on the door adjacent the free vertical edge portion 33 of end panels 21 and 22 so that these end panels remain in line with tracks 18 and 20 and consequently, as represented in FIGURES 4, 5 and 6, constantly lie in the plane of the cabinet access opening 11 regardless of the position of the door. This construction and arrangement has the advantage that either end panel, being always supported and guided for rectilinear motion, can follow or lead the intermediate panels and thus facilitate their folding or unfolding displacements in opening or closing the cabinet. Because of this feature, the door can be manipulated with equal ease either from right to left as viewed in FIGURE 5, or from left to right as viewed in FIGURE 6.

In accordance with the invention, the ease with which the door can be fully opened in either direction is assisted by means of rigid plate members 34 aflixed to and slidable with the rst typer hinges 25, which plate members are preferably located at and project laterally from a medial portion of their associated hinges to lie in alignment with respect to each other. Thus adjacent plate members successively come in abutting engagement as the door is folded (see FIGURE 5) so that one plate member pushes the other until all are in contact when the door is fully opened. With all the plate members in contact, the door can be moved, in folded condition, on tracks 18 and 20 to any location within the cabinet opening 11 thereby readily exposing any portion of the cabinet where access is desired.

In further accordance with the invention, the door panels are adapted to align themselves and be retained automatically in fully closed ush position within the contines of the cabinet opening 11. For that purpose the door is provided with abutment means and with resilient means, both of which cooperate with the hinges to line up the panels and hold them in straight line relationship in the manner presently to be described.

As shown in FIGURE 2, ther abutment means comprises four stops 35, and the resilient means comprises two spring pressed plungers 36, one plunger being mounted adjacent free edge portion 33 of end panel 21 and rigidly connected with said edge portion by bracket 36a to contact a striker 37 carried by side frame portion 14, the other plunger being secured to hinge elements 30 of door panels 23a, 23b adjacent free edge portion 33 of end panel 22 to contact another striker 37a carried by side frame portion 15. Two of the stops 35 are disposed one adjacent the top and one adjacent the bottom of the second type hinge 26 between adjoining intermediate panels 23a and 23h, and the remaining two stops are disposed one adjacent the top and the other adjacent the bottom of the second type hinge 26 between adjoining intermediate panels 23e` and 23d. All of these stops are adjustably mounted, as shown at 38 in FIGURE 3, so that the stops can accurately be positioned to contact fixed abutment surfaces which can and preferably are provided by top and bottom framing members 39 which lie in close proximity to and inwardly of the aforesaid second type hinges 26.

It will be noted particularly from FIGURE 3, that, when the door is fully closed, pivotal axis A of each of the second type hinge 26 lies inwardly of the line of thrust created in the plane of the door by spring-pressed plungers 36 and mounting means 36a thereof. For that reason, hinges 25 and 26, stops 35, spring-pressed plungers 36 and the series of door panels act as a toggle whereby, upon completer closure of the door, the hinges 26 move overcenter with respect to the line of thrust, and the panels are urged into and assume a coplanar position where they remain until an opening movement of the door is manually initiated.

From fully closed position, the door is opened by first manually exerting an outward pull, as represented by arrow F in FIGURE l, either on handle 24 of intermediate door panel 23a or on handle 24 of intermediate door panel 23d. This initial pull moves pivotal axis A of hinges 26 outwardly across the line of thrust and starts the door toward opening position. Assuming that the door is initially opened from the right side as viewed in FIGURE 4, then by manually pushing in the direction of arrow L (FIG- URE 4) the door can be completely folded to the left as seen in FIGURE 5, or by manually pushing in the direction of arrow R (FIGURE 4) the door can be completely folded to the right as seen in FIGURE 6. It will be understood that by manually pushing partway in both directions the door can be completely folded in midway or other intermediate position between the right and left sides of the cabinet open front.

In closing the door from a completely folded open position either at the left side or at the right side a pull manually exerted, in the direction of arrow R (FIGURE 5), on handle 24 of end panel 22 or, in the direction of arrow L (FIGURE 6), on handle 24 of end panel 21 will initiate unfolding of the door. When thus initially unfolded, the door can then be forced home by manually applying a nal push on the intermediate door panels in the direction of arrow F (FIGURE 4). This final push brings stops 35 in contact with their respective fixed abutment surfaces and also brings the spring pressed plungers 36 in contact with their respective strikers 37, thus straightening the door and establishing the aforesaid thrust condition which straightens and maintains the door panels in ush alignment.

From the aforegoing description, it will be appreciated that the folding door structure of the present invention is most suited for giving desired access to extensive sections of a comparatively large cabinet. Because the door structure of the invention can be folded from either end and moved in folded condition back and forth from one to the other side of the cabinet spacious opening, easy access to selected sections of a cabinet can be had merely by sliding the folded door clear of the section where access is desired.

Although a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to specific structural details of that embodiment but embraces such changes and modications as come within the scope of the appended claim.

What I claim is:

A foldable door structure for a cabinet having a door opening, said structure comprising: a plurality of mutually adjacent vertical door panels for closing said door opening, saidv plurality of panels including two end panels; means for guiding said end panels in the general plane of the cabinet opening during opening and closing movements of the door; a first type of hinges disposed between and connected to the end panels and the adjacent panels; a second type of hinges disposed between and connected to said adjacent panels and the next adjacent ones; further hinges of the rst and second types disposed alternately between further pairs of such door panels, for pivoting the same about vertical axes; means on the first type of hinges for limiting movement of the same to the general plane of said door opening; rigid stops on at least some of the panels, adjacent the second type of hinges, said rigid stops being adjustable in a plane transverse to the general plane of the door structure, for thereby locating all panels in substantially coplanar relationship when the door is closed; force generating means for creating a line of thrust in the general plane of the door when the door is closed; and striker means arranged at said opening to lie adjacent the end panels when the door is closed, the mentioned force generating means including elements carried by the end panels for engagement with the striker means, and the construction and arrangement being such that the axes of the hinges of the second type move into said door opening, across said line of thrust, when the door is closed,

5 6 whereby to press said rigid stops against the door struc- 2,553,637 5/1951 De Camp. ture by the thrust generated along said line by said force 3,073,382 1/ 1963 Zimmerman et al. 160-199 X generating and striker means, and thus to align and main- 3,111,208 111/ 1963 Grossman 160--199 X tain the door panels in closed position. 3,116,782 1/ 1964 Rudnick 160-118 X 5 References Cited by the Examiner 21 821 /IFRESGN PATENTS 1, 8, 12 f 9 9 rance. UNITED STATES PATENTS 409,351 4/1930 Great Britain.

1,169,904 2/1916 Woolard et al 160-206 1,266,980 5/ 1918 Norton 160-118 HARRISON R, MOSELEY, Primary Examiner.

2,230,475 2/1941 Albach et al 160-206 X 10 2,241,179 5/1941 Brenkert' D. L. TAYLOR, Assistant Examiner. 

